Australia to Continue Effort to Develop Troubled Seasprite Copter
The Royal Australian Navy will persist with its troubled SH-2G(A) Super Seasprite helicopter program despite a six-year delay in the 1 billion Australian dollar ($820 million) project.
Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson had been expected later this year to cancel the project to acquire 11 of the helicopters, manufactured by Kaman Corp., Bloomfield, Conn. They were ordered in 1997 to equip the Navy’s eight Anzac-class frigates and were due to enter service in 2001, but have been delayed by software integration difficulties with their custom-built Integrated Tactical Avionics System (ITAS).
Last year, other problems emerged with the helicopters’ new digital Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) and the aircraft were grounded. Ten of the Super Seasprites had been delivered to the Navy air base at Nowra, near Sydney, for initial training. The eleventh was retained by Kaman to complete ITAS development and flight testing.
“In April 2006, I initiated a full examination of the Seasprite project following grounding of the aircraft due to concerns over the reliability of the Seasprite’s automated flight control system,” Nelson said in a statement May 25. “The review paid particular attention to the reliability of the flight control system and its associated safety implications; the ramifications to Naval aviation of the project being six years late; and the performance of the integrated sensor system. After detailed consideration of the issues involved, the government has decided to continue the Seasprite project, subject to satisfactory contract arrangements.”
The aircraft will be returned to flight status “within the next several weeks,” according to Steve Rutter, Kaman’s Australian project manager. He said May 25 the company had remedied errors in the ITAS software, and with the Navy’s agreement, the Super Seasprites should start a final four- to five-week flight test and demonstration program at Nowra around the middle of the year.
But in a written response to questions May 28, the department stated that “due to the meticulous process designed to ensure adequate safety, it is unlikely that Seasprite flying will recommence before late 2007.”............